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Olfactory Landmarks and Path Integration Converge to Form a Cognitive Spatial Map

Walter M. Fischler, Narendra R. Joshi, Virginia Devi-Chou, Lacey J. Kitch, Mark J. Schnitzer, Larry F. Abbott, Richard Axel
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/752360
Walter M. Fischler
Department of Neuroscience, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Columbia University, New York, United States
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Narendra R. Joshi
Department of Neuroscience, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Columbia University, New York, United States
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Virginia Devi-Chou
Department of Neuroscience, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Columbia University, New York, United States
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Lacey J. Kitch
James H. Clark Center for Biomedical Engineering &Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USAHoward Hughes Medical Institute, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USACNC Program, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA
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Mark J. Schnitzer
James H. Clark Center for Biomedical Engineering &Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USAHoward Hughes Medical Institute, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USACNC Program, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA
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Larry F. Abbott
The Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind, Brain, and Behavior Institute, Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA; Department of Physiology and Cellular Biophysics, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA
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  • For correspondence: ra27@columbia.edu lfa2103@columbia.edu
Richard Axel
Department of Neuroscience, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Columbia University, New York, United States
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  • For correspondence: ra27@columbia.edu lfa2103@columbia.edu
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Abstract

The convergence of internal path integration with sensory information from external landmarks generates a cognitive spatial map in the hippocampus. We have recorded the activity of cells in CA1 during a virtual navigation task to examine how mice represent, recognize and employ sparse olfactory landmarks to estimate their location. We observe that the presence of odor landmarks at multiple locations in a virtual environment greatly enriches the place cell representation and dramatically improves navigation. Presentation of the same odor at different locations generates distinct place cell representations, indicating that path integration can disambiguate two identical cues on the basis of location. The enhanced place cell representation at one cue location led to the formation of place cells at locations beyond that cue and, ultimately recognition of a second odor cue as a distinct landmark. This suggests an iterative mechanism for extending place cell representations into unknown territory. These results reveal how odor cues can serve as landmarks to guide navigation and suggest a model to explain how the convergence of landmarks and path integration participates in an iterative process that generates a cognitive spatial map.

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The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.
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Posted August 30, 2019.
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Olfactory Landmarks and Path Integration Converge to Form a Cognitive Spatial Map
Walter M. Fischler, Narendra R. Joshi, Virginia Devi-Chou, Lacey J. Kitch, Mark J. Schnitzer, Larry F. Abbott, Richard Axel
bioRxiv 752360; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/752360
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Olfactory Landmarks and Path Integration Converge to Form a Cognitive Spatial Map
Walter M. Fischler, Narendra R. Joshi, Virginia Devi-Chou, Lacey J. Kitch, Mark J. Schnitzer, Larry F. Abbott, Richard Axel
bioRxiv 752360; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/752360

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